What History Teaches about the Impact of Educational Research on Practice

Abstract

Since antiquity, history has served a variety of human needs. At different times and places, written history has promised to teach moral lessons, guide political decision making, honor a heavenly Creator, and buttress the claims of church and state, or simply record memories of times past. These multiple uses of history remain evident today. Histories are often on the bestseller lists, especially biographies of the Founding Fathers. Interest in Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and a range of presidents seems undiminished. Bookstores at the mall stock shelves of volumes on the Civil War, World War II, and military history. Millions of Americans visit historical sites and museums and many participate in Civil War battle reenactments, and they also watch the History Channel (more wars and battles, mostly) and the “American Experience” series on the Public Broadcasting System. The crotchety Henry Ford told a newspaper reporter in 1916 that history “means nothing to me.” “History is more or less bunk.” Yet the popular Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, which opened in the 1930s, became a testimony to his growing interest in the past. In its diverse forms, history has not lost its appeal.1 KeywordsEducational ResearchEducation ResearchSchool BoardSchool ImprovementAmerican Educational Research AssociationThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.